A Brief History of Chekhov’s Gun in ‘Breaking Bad’

If you watch Breaking Bad, you’re probably very familiar with the term Chekhov’s Gun. Recappers and critics love to reference Chekhov’s Gun while discussing Breaking Bad, and I’m no exception. It makes a guy feel smart, even if it’s one of the more obvious foreshadowing devices. Basically, it’s the technique whereby an element that’s meaning is not immediately evident is introduced early in a story and its significance becomes clear later on. It’s a very popular technique in Breaking Bad, and while some of the more smug viewers like to poo-poo it as obvious, obnoxious, or irritating, I think it’s kind of awesome. It’s a nice reward for people who pay attention to the details. Plus: Literature!

There will be SPOILERS through season four.

I won’t address all of the instances of Chekhov’s Gun used in Breaking Bad mostly because I am not likely familiar with them all. Vince Gilligan is a mad genius, and he’s probably buried several throughout the series that viewers may not catch until the fourth of fifth time they watch the show all the way through. But just for the sake of “Hey! That’s cool!” let’s look at some of the most obvious ones so far.

The Bullet — Season Three, Episode 7 (“One Minute”) — Early in the episode, an arms dealer gives the Cousins a hollow-point bullet “on the house.” That bullet later falls out of one of the Cousin’s pocket and is used by Hank to kill both Cousins before they kill him.

The Box Cutter — Season Four, Episode One (“The Box Cutter”): Seen in the first act, used later by Gus to slice open Victor’s throat.

The Thirty-Eight Snub — Season Four, Episode Two (“Thirty Eight Snub”): Walt purchases a gun in the second episode, and while that gun appears several times throughout the season, it is not used until the final episode of season four (the man who he purchased the gun from also reappears in the opening episode of season five to sell Walt an M-60).

The Throw Rug — Season Four, Episode 11 (“Crawl Space”): Seen early on when Ted answers the door and nearly trips. Later, he trips over it and is nearly killed.

The Ricin Cigarette — Season Four, Episode 9 (“Bug”): This was kind of a Chekhov’s Gun fake-out. Walt gives Jesse a cigarette poisoned with Ricin to use to kill Gus. In the penultimate episode of season four, Jesse believes that Ricin was responsible for Brock’s illness (It was not). The cigarette was removed by Saul’s body guard, Huell, and it is still in play. The cigarette was reintroduced by Saul in the fifth season premiere.

Lily of the Valley — Season Four, Episode 13 (“Face Off”): This one is my favorite because you probably wouldn’t catch it until the second time through. In the previous episode (“End Times”), Walt’s spinning gun pointed to a seemingly irrelevant potted plant.

In the end of the finale, of course, it was revealed to be The Lily of the Valley, which was the plant that poisoned Brock.

It should also be noted that, in the opening episode of season five, Walt places the plant in his trunk in a trash bag, but importantly, he hasn’t disposed of it yet. Does Jesse find out about this first, or that Walt killed Jane? Will that Lily of the Valley make another appearance?

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I’ve watched the fifth season premiere twice now, and I’ve yet to pick up on any possible Chekhov’s Guns. I know that Gilligan loves to play the long game, so there may be something that simply won’t become apparent until much later (However, I guarandamntee you that the $100 bill he left as a tip is revealed to be significant; perhaps it was his last $100 bill, or a $100 bill that someone significant, like Skylar, gave him).

Personally, I’m still trying to figure out the significance of Walt’s identity in the cold open: “Lambert.” The best guess I’ve arrived at so far is that it’s a reference to Frank Lambert, a chemist who is best known for his work on thermodynamic entropy.

Did anyone see anything seemingly irrelevant in the opening episode that might play out over the course of the season?

What might be in play now for a future episode is the roofing hammer that’s intro’d before Gus’s broken laptop and the reveal of his Cayman Islands bank account number in the busted ABQ PD evidence room. I’m certain Vince G. and his fellow writers could find something memorable to do with a roofing hammer, perhaps some more nasty Mexican killers are on the way who prefer hammers to axes?

I too thought the hammer must have some significance, otherwise why would they show it? They could have easily used something like a ring or cash or something else that could be in an evidence room yet they decided to show a roofing hammer that could easily be used as a weapon AND had a finish very similar to the axe that the cousins would carry around in Season 3. Both tools had a very chrome-like finish that those tools often do not have.

One of the reviews posted on WG alluded that the Cayman Islands bank account reveal would translate to bad news for Walt. If this does become a Chekhov’s Gun situation, I can’t see how this would negatively affect Walt. What would the connection to Walt be?

Re the $100 bill, I thought that Walt was doing everything possible for the waitress to remember him, birthday, ID, huge tip and playing with the bacon. I thought for an alibi but maybe part of a bigger plan if someone is on his trail.

Not sure if anyone caught this or if it had been previously mentioned but in the scene at Denny’s Walt isn’t wearing his wedding band even though he worn it throughout everything else (I’m pretty sure). Could be nothing but in the world of BB nothing is usually something.

The only restaurant significance is the story of how Walt met Skylar. He would continually go in to her diner, started doing crossword puzzles, etc to get her attention. If the bacon would have said 72, the waitress could have been his daughter. However, it’s 52 and I’m just spitballin here.

I hate you. I was thinking this too, although with a slight variation. Gilligan said that Walt does something this season that makes him lose all sympathy for Walt. Maybe Walt purposely poisons her. Hell they could even do something more drastic and use Hollie as collateral damage if Skyler starts breastfeeding her, and she gets some of the Ricin too.

I think the laptop was a callback to the Season 4 finale, wasn’t it? Before Gus went to visit Hector, I seem to remember there was a deliberate shot of him in his Pollos Hermanos office, shutting the computer down.

I’m guessing that Walt is on the run, he knows that the bills he has on him are being traced by the Feds/Hank. By spending this bill, he is bringing on the final confrontation between himself & them. Once traced, the showdown is on.

Let’s get one thing clear: Walt didn’t kill Jane, Jane killed Jane. Walt had little reason to be in Jesse’s apartment in the first place, and if he didn’t go over there Jane would have chocked on her own vomit anyway. Just because he refused to help Jane doesn’t make him responsible for her death.

Bullshit. Doesn’t matter if he had a reason to be there. He was there. Any person with an ounce of humanity would have turner her over. He calculated, decided that he was better off with her dead and killed her by his inaction

Yup. It’s not like he would have had to call the hospital or anything, he just had to turn her head. He had time to do it, and decided not to do it because she jeopardized him. It was asphyxiation that killed her, not an OD. Hell, in The Fly episode he even admits that he feels responsible.

If you watch that scene closely you’ll notice that Jane was lying on her side when Walt first entered the apartment. When he tries to wake Jesse by shaking him, Jane gets knocked over on her back. So in effect, Walt’s presence directly caused her death.

At the very least, Skyler or Jesse will die in episode 8, if not both of them or even more people.

The whole show has been about Walter getting deeper into the drug game while Jesse tries to get out. Over time Walt has begun to act more like Jesse, especially in season 4. The next step is for him to become more like Gus, which is already happening in the season premiere. But the thing that made Gus the man he was? The death of his partner. But then, who is Walt’s real partner? I would argue Jesse, as the strength of Walt’s marriage has always had an inverse correlation with the strength of his relationship with Jesse.

I’m trying real hard to remember; but when does the the thirty-eight snub get used in the last episode of season four? I remember it being pointed at(or pointing to) people and things, but never “used” in the sense of “fired.” And I don’t recall it being in the final episode at all. Maybe I’m wrong, let me know.

Okay so I’ve noticed something…. every time Walt kills someone significant, he alters his traits to become more like that person.
Example 1 – Walter kills Crazy 8, starts cutting the crusts of his sandwiches like Crazy 8 wanted
Example 2 – Walter Kills Gus, we see Walter driving a Volvo at the start of S5 like Gus did.
Example 3 – Mike has his drink on the rocks at the bar with Walter, after Walter kills Mike, Walter gets offered a drink and he takes it on the rocks.
Now we see that Walter arranges his bacon into 52 at the beginning of season 5… now who used to do that for him?

Also guys, In the first episode of season 1, we see a young girl picking up the gas mask and giving it to her parents, which obviously leads the DEA to be called and investigate…. but, since then, the little girl who picked up the gas mask has been in the background of several shots especially in S2 with the mysterious pink teddy bear, which we thought to believe was a reference to Jane, but it’s actually a reference to the little Mexican girl who will come back in the S5 finale and shoot walt.

Also, we see that the premiere of season 5 is a flashback in the ‘future’. We do not know how far in the future, but I reckon walt is actually 62 and is lying about his age… we notice that Walt is very concerned about telling people his age, so…he is actually 62, which means Holly is 11 years old, Holly, finds out about Walts shenanigans and kills him.

Walt has always taken on little habits of those he killed. He cuts the crusts off of his sandwiches, like Krazy 8. He began taking his drink on the rocks like Mike. In the beginning scene of season 5 he puts his bacon in the number of his age, 52, like Skyler used to do for him. That means Skyler is dead, and probably dead because of Walt.

I think the roofing hammer is definitely a foreshadowing element. The hammer from the evidence room is said to be from the “Gutierrez case.” The name Gutierrez means Son of Gutierre, and Gutierre is derived from the Germanic name for Walter. Thus, Gutierrez essentially means “Son of Walter.” Perhaps the hammer is foreshadowing events involving Walter Jr. or even Jesse since he looks up to Walt as a father figure.

Another good one happens in the opening scene of season 4 episode 7 when Jesse is playing a video game. One of the characters in the game warns him not to drink the water, because you never know if it’s been poisoned. Later in the episode Walt makes the ricin for Jesse to use on Gus, and later in the season Brock is poisoned by Walt.